So what's next?

Dragonpie

I've had a look back over my diary this evening and I've realised a few things.
* I'm very lucky - although I am cutting back, I still have the opportunity to go on nights out, concerts and holidays, all things that I love to do.
* the above point is a bit tainted because I realise that if I am able to do these things and still make a dent in my debts every month (paying nearly £500 to a loan and CCs and nearly £360 to my mortgage), I was really silly to get myself in this position in the first place!
* I've come so far, yes, there have been slip ups (and slip ups will probably continue to happen!) but this time last year I was routinely spending £900-£1000 each month on a CC plus £200 in cash and now I tend to spend £600-£700 in total. I still treat myself but I had reached the point where I was on first name terms with the guy at the shop where I collected my parcels so clearly excessive!

Dragonpie

I have gone into the next bracket on my credit report! I know that credit scores don't mean a lot but it's nice to have something quantifiable to show that I am moving in the right direction :-)

beanielou

Dragonpie wrote: »

I have gone into the next bracket on my credit report! I know that credit scores don't mean a lot but it's nice to have something quantifiable to show that I am moving in the right direction :-)

That's good then

Dragonpie

I've just updated my signature and realised that I have been on this journey for a year! The overall loan and credit card debt has dropped by nearly £4000 (this could have been £6000 but for a replacement boiler) and I have been reducing my mortgage balance by £500 per month. I am still not where I should be in terms of an emergency fund but I am getting there and if I can keep paying off my debt at this rate, hopefully, I will be on track for my goal of being sent free by January 2024.

beanielou

Figures looking great

Dragonpie

Thanks Beanielou.

I have realised that I have hit another milestone this week, my mortgage is now below £50k! It's nice to see the balance start with a '4', although it has took me 6 years to pay off £13k which seems slow (but I haven't seen making overpayments for all that time).

enthusiasticsaver

You seem to be doing well on reducing the debt and the mortgage. Presumably all the debt is 0%?

Do you budget for fun money for concerts/holidays etc?


Again, I think the lack of an emergency fund is something I would concentrate on so you do not have to put anything else on credit, like you did with the boiler. Have you set the payments on the cards to clear by the time the 0% deals finish?

Dragonpie

The CC with the largest balance is currently 0% and the DD is set up to pay off around £350, which will have the balance paid off to coincide with the end of the 0% period, the other CC will still be 0% so the focus will switch to CC2 as soon as CC1 is repaid. The loan is around 4.5% but the interest was front loaded so all repayments are repaying capital now. The emergency fund is the main concern and is definitely lower than it should - this will be due to the spending on fun money (which is somewhere I could probably cut back), there should be minimal fun spending for the next few months as there is not much planned until my next holiday in September (I only came back from Greece on Thursday).
I think my lack of focus on the emergency fund is due to me being unable to see many major spending which may come up (touch wood) - although something will more than likely arise!

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds under control on the credit card front then.

The thing about emergencies is that they often are unforeseen. No one plans for them but common ones are boiler/essential house repairs ( you already have experience of that), broken fridge, oven or washing machine, vet or dentist bills, car emergency repairs, lack of overtime, reduced pay or redundancy.(You have experience of that too). Obviously if you do not have animals or a car you can eliminate a few of those immediately. How much you save depends on how likely any or all of them are likely to occur.

beanielou

Just as a wee aside I have had truely shocking vets bills in the last few weeks. I had three older cats. Now have 2 as one was put to sleep 3 weeks ago & my oldest cat has had some tests and they cost a fair wee bit.